Safety ashtray



United States Patent [72] Inventors: George W. Eidson Box 643, Gridley, California 95948;

Douglas 0. Eidson, Box 643, Gridley, California 95948 [21] Application N0.: 789,808

[22] Filed: Jan. 8, 1969 [45] Patented: Aug. 4, 1970 [54] SAFETY ASHTRAY Primary Examiner- Joseph S. Reich Altorney- Alexander B. Blair ABSTRACT: A casing is provided in the top thereof with a drawer into which cigarette butts are placed, whereupon the door is closed. Cigarettes dropped into the drawer fall between two vertical belts which are operated by a gear arrangement only when the drawer is closed and the belts snuff out the cigarette and ultimately drop it into a receiving tray in the lower drawer.

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl. 131/237 [51] Int. Cl. A24f19/14 [50] Field ofSearch 131/231, 237, 256

[56] References Cited Patented Aug. 4, 1970 3,522,810

Sheet 1 of 2 [mm/702.5. 550%: W. [/0504 flax/0M5 0. 5050/1 Arrow: Y.

Patented Aug. 4, 1970 Sheet 2 0005145 0.:f/0s0/v 176.9 M 03.6%

A rmew: Y.

US PATENT 3,522,810 SAFETY ASHTRAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The device relates to cigarette ash receivers and particularly those used on motor vehicles. In devices as now used in motor vehicles, cigarettes are often not completely extinguished and they lie in the receiver and smolder, sometimes setting fire to any trash which may be in the ash receiver. It is highly desira ble that each cigarette be fully extinguished as it is disposed of.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION which cigarettes are placed when the drawer is pulled open and the cigarettes dropped between the belts As the drawer is closed, racks beneath the drawer, meshing with one of the gears, rotates such gear and causes the inner runs of the belts to move downwardly. Idler bars within the inner runs of the belts cause them to move into contact with each other so that a cigarette passing therebetween will be pressed by the belts and the fire extinguished. Because of the length of the belts, such cigarette will be held between the belts until subsequent cigarettes are fed into the device, thus assuring the complete extinguishing of a cigarette before it is dropped from the bottom of the belts into a receiver in the bottom of the casing, formed as a drawer which may be removed to dump the cigarette butts and ashes therefrom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE l is a front elevational view of a portion of a vehicle instrument board showing the device in position;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged front elevational view of the device;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation ofthe same;

FIGURE 4 is a section on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 ofFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a horizontal section on line 7-7 of FIGURE 5',

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged elevational view of one of the gears and its associated ratchet mechanism, parts being shown in section; and

FIGURE 9 is a detail sectional view showing the connection of the ratchet and gear mechanism with the casing and associated belt roller.

. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGURE 1 the numeral 10 designates the instrument panel for a motor vehicle in which the present device indicated as a whole by the numeral 12 is installed at any suitable point. The device comprises a casing 14 having front and rear walls 16 and I8 and side walls 20. The front wall I4 is cut away adjacent the top and bottom thereof for a pair of drawers indicated as a whole by the numerals 22 and 24, respectively.

Between the drawers referred to are arranged an upper pair of pulley rollers 26 and 28 and a pair of lower rollers 30 and 32 rotatable on studs 34 passing through the side walls 20. A forward endless belt 36 passes around the rollers 28 and 32 and a rear endless belt 38 passes around the rollers 26'and 30. Against the inner run ofthe belt 36 above the center thereof is arranged an idler bar 40, and below such bar, a similar idler bar 42 is arranged against the inner run of the belt 38. These belts accordingly are caused to contact adjacent the bar 42, as shown in FIGURE 5 Fixed with respect to the rollers 28 and 30, respectively, are gears 44 and 46 meshing with each other. It will be apparent that if the gear 44 is turned counterclockwise, opposite rotation will be imparted to the gear 46. Under such conditions, the inner runs of the belts 36 and 38 will move downwardly.

The drawer 22 is provided with a bottom wall 48 which terminates short of the rear wall 50 of the drawer, and an inclined shelf 52, attached at its forward end to the forward wall 54 of the drawer, is adapted to feed cigarette butts downwardly through the opening 56 provided adjacent the lower end of the shelf 52. This shelf is provided with upwardly and outwardly inclined side walls 58 extending to the side walls 60 of the drawer to confine cigarette butts within the drawer so that they slide downwardly along the shelf 52. The drawer 22 is provided at its sides with flanges 62 operating in trackways 64 carried by the side walls 60 of the drawer and the front wall of the drawer is provided with a suitable handle 66.

Beneath the bottom wall 48 of the drawer and fixed thereto is a pair of racks 68 meshing with the gear 44, as shown in FIGURE 5 Accordingly, closing movement of the drawer will rotate the gear 44 counter-clockwise. While the drawer is open, cigarette butts will slide downwardly along the shelf 52, over a lip 70 at the end of the bottom wall 48 adjacent the opening 56, thence onto a shelf 72 extending downwardly toward the belts 36 and 38 to discharge cigarette butts therebetween.

It is desirable, of course, to cause the gear 44 to rotate counter-clockwise when the drawer is closed, but not to rotate clockwise when the drawer is opened. To this end, the gear 44 is formed as a ring 74 (FIGURE 8) within which is arranged a wheel 76 provided with an opening 78 to one side ofthe vertical center of the wheel and in which is arranged a pawl 80 urged downwardly by a spring 82 backed up by a threaded plug 84. The studs for the roller 28, indicated by the numeral 86 are provided with ratchet teeth 88 (FIGURE 8) engaged by the pawl 80. When the gear 44 is rotated clockwise in Fig. 8, the pawl 80 rotates the roller 28 and escapes over the teeth 88 when the gear 44 rotates in the opposite direction, that is, when the drawer 22 is opened.

The lower drawer 24 is provided with side walls 90 carrying horizontal flanges 92 operable in channel guides 94 carried by the side walls 20. The drawer 24 is provided with a bottom wall 96, a rear wall 98 and a front wall 100 having a handle 102 fixed thereto. The rear wall 98 has attached thereto the rear end of a leaf 104, the forward end of which is free to spring upwardly and downwardly. Such end of the leaf is provided with a downwardly extending shoulder 106 and a lower finger piece 108. The shoulder I06 is adapted to engage against a stop fixed to the wall 16.

The operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoing description. When the handle 66 is pulled to open the drawer 22, a cigarette butt may be dropped on the shelf 52, thence on to the shelf 72 and into the space between the inner runs of the belts 36 and 38. During opening movement of the drawer 22, the gear 44 will not rotate for the reasons stated above, hence the belts 36 and 38 will remain stationary. When the drawer 22 is closed, the gear 44 will be turned counter-clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 5 and clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 8. The inner runs of the belts accordingly will be caused to move downwardly and the cigarette butt will be pressed between the inner runs of the belts adjacent the bar 40. Upon further downward movement of the inner runs of the belts, the cigarette butt will be pinched tightly between the belts, the inner run of the belt 36 flexing to whatever degree is necessary to permit the passage of the cigarette therebetween. Thus, the cigarette will be completely extinguished.

This extinguishing of the cigarette butt takes place between the upper portions of the inner runs of the belts and the cigarette butt will be held therebetween to insure its complete extinguishment. In practice it is desired that two additional operations of the drawer 22 take place before the first cigarette butt is discharged from the lower ends of the belts to fall into the drawer 24. Thus, there is no chance that any fire will remain on the cigarette butt by the time it is received in the drawer 24 and accordingly there can be no smoldering cigarette fire in such drawer.

When it is desired to empty the drawer 24, the handle 102 will be pulled outwardly and the finger piece 108 depressed so that the shoulder I06 will clear the stop 110. Thus the drawer 24 can be completely withdrawn to be emptied.

In the event the drawer 24 is left partly open, the stop 110 will limit its movement to a position in which the drawer 24 will still be arranged beneath the belts at the point of discharge of the cigarette and thus the latter will be prevented from falling behind the drawer 24. To the rear wall 18 is attached a downwardly and forwardly sloping baffle 112 terminating ad jacent the roller 30. In the event any ashes or any portion of a cigarette butt falls into the space behind the belt 38, it will be guided by the baffle l 12 to be discharged into the drawer 24.

Thus, the normal operation of the device provides for the automatic extinguishing of all cigarette butts before they can reach the drawer 24, thus preventing any smouldering butts from reaching the bottom drawer. The device, accordingly, possesses a high degree of safety in operation.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided an improved safety ashtray which accomplishes all of the objects of this invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance' As various embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, ment hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. A safety cigarette ash receiver comprising a casing, a pair of vertically arranged endless belts having inner runs arranged adjacent each other and between the upper ends of which a cigarette is adapted to be dropped, and means for operating said endless members to move said inner runs thereof downwardly to squeeze and extinguish cigarettes therebetween.

2. An ash receiver according to Claim 1 provided with a casing in which said endless members are arranged, and a drawer in said casing above said endless members adapted to be pulled out for the reception therein of cigarettes which will drop therefrom between the upper ends of the inner runs of said endless members.

3. An ash receiver according to Claim 2 wherein rollers are provided around which the upper portions of said endless members pass, said means for moving said endless members and as many modifications may be made in the embodicomprising cooperating devices between said drawer and one of said rollers for moving the'latter solely when said drawer is pushed to a closed position.

4. An ash receiver according to Claim 3 wherein said means for moving said endless members comprises a gear on one of said rollers and a rack carried by said drawer and engaging said gear.

5. A cigarette receiver according to Claim 4 provided with a ratchet mechanism connected between said gear and said roller for transmitting shutting movement of said drawer to said roller to operate said endless members, said ratchet mechanism being inoperative for moving said drawer when said drawer is opened.

6. An ash receiver according to Claim 2 wherein said drawer is provided with a downwardly sloping shelf on which cigarettes are adapted to be placed when said drawer is open, the bottom of said drawer having an opening through which cigarettes are adapted to. fall between said upper runs of said endless members whena cigarette is placed on said shelf when said drawer is opened.

*7. An ash receiver according to Claim 6 wherein said casing is provided beneath said endless members with a drawer into which cigarettes are adapted to fall when discharged from the lower ends of said inner runs of said endless members.

8. An ash receiver according .to Claim 7 provided with an idler bar engaging one face of one of said inner runs opposite 1 the other inner run to cause the first named inner run to bulge toward said other inner run to provide a restricted passage through which cigarettes pass to be completely extinguished.

9. An ash receiver according to Claim 8 provided with a sloping shelf carried by said casing to tend to guide cigarettes into the space between said inner runs of said endless members adgacent the tops thereof.

10. n ash receiver according to Claim 9 wherein said other inner run is provided with an idler bar engaging the face thereof remote from said first-named inner run to tend to hold said inner runs together adjacent said first-named idler bar to increase the effectiveness of said inner runs in squeezing and extinguishing cigarettes passing downwardly between said inner runs. 

